The
mazzocchio, a wooden or wicker headdress, was a common article
of male attire in Florence in the second and third quarters
of the fifteenth century. Painted representations of the mazzocchio
are seen in many of Uccello's paintings. By virtue of its
form, which can be clearly determined in these paintings, its
representation presented a constructional problem of special
complexity, with which later perspective theorists also concerned
themselves.

The elaborate system of projection can be reconstructed from
incised lines on the original drawings, and shows the relevance
of the methods and principals of the costruzione legittima.